WM Morrison Supermarkets has bought a collection of Jessops stores as it steps
up its fightback following a slump in Christmas sales.

Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket group has acquired seven Jessops shops from the administrators to the collapsed camera retailer for an undisclosed price,

The sites will be used to expand Morrisons’ convenience store business – M Local – which is vital to the company’s future strategy. Four of the Jessops sites are in London, two elsewhere in England, and one in Scotland

Jessops collapsed last month with the loss of 2,000 jobs and 192 store closures. Peter Jones, the Dragons’ Den businessman, has agreed to buy the Jessops brand from administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers and will relaunch the business as an online-only retailer.

Morrisons is also in talks to buy sites from HMV and Blockbuster, which collapsed into administration just days after Jessops.